Alex & Mushi: Unbuilding Walls

The idea for the exhibition began in 2015, when Alex & Mushi met on the streets after Alex was evicted from her San Francisco studio by tech companies. Rather than remain studio- less, Alex & Mushi fabricated a “Portable Studio” to bring onto the streets.

Press Release

The Modernism West Gallery is excited to present an exhibition of conceptual artists, Alex & Mushi, who designed an experiment to uncover a universal language that connects us all.The photo and video exhibition that opens with a reception at Modernism West on March 30, from 6-8 pm, is the result of Alex and Mushi’s two year journey in Berlin, Tokyo and San Francisco.The idea for the exhibition began in 2015, when Alex & Mushi met on the streets after Alex was evicted from her San Francisco studio by tech companies. Rather than remain studio- less, Alex & Mushi fabricated a “Portable Studio” to bring onto the streets. Alex & Mushi invited the public to step into this 10’x10’ white gator-board box. There were only two rules: no talking and no touching. The Portable Studio is a neutral territory zone, for communication and connection, not just a tool to understand but a tool to experience. The Portable Studio eliminates the social conditioning embedded in our culture, race, gender and language. Alex and Mushi state that, “we need to remember how we connect person to person, for us that is an act of resistance.”Walls are going up in America and around the world. A physical barrier between people is expanding and being fortified. People feel divided and they don’t know how to find common ground. In Berlin, Alex & Mushi found a city still struggling to come together, decades after the wall fell in 1989. In Tokyo, the cultural walls are crumbling as women feel increasingly comfortable expressing their individuality. “Through their art, Alex & Mushi are removing barriers and taking down walls,” said Martin Muller, Owner of Modernism Gallery.Unbuilding Walls is a radical look at what connects us as individuals rather than whatdivides us within society. Alex and Mushi believe that, “if we are going to overcome the forces that are working to divide us, we need to rebuild our connections one person at a time.”For more information, please contact: Danielle Beaulieu - danielle@modernisminc.com For press requests, please contact: Jared Blumenfeld - jaredblumenfeld@comcast.net

ALEX NICHOLS is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer involved in Critical Contact Art. The question at the core of Alex’s work is how the body can become the place of active resistance. Alex is born in San Francisco. http://arbat44.com/MUSHI is an artist-anthropologist concerned with the ‘we’. Born in Korea, raised in the UK and being mixed race forced Mushi to navigate the relationship between self and the other. http://mushimushimushi.com/